Monthly Archives: October 2013

Tomorrow for the 6am class I am leaving the workout up to the coach. Andres will have something fun and challenging for you guys so be ready!
Remember we are only having one afternoon class at 4:30. It will be a special group workout. These group workouts are always better when there is a large turnout, so try to make it if you can!

There will be our usual 6am class on Thursday. For the afternoon we will be having only one class. There will be a special group workout starting at 4:30. Hopefully this time works for most of you. The intent is to finish at a reasonable time that way everyone can enjoy some trick or treating with their friends and families after.

It seemed as though every class that I saw today people were killing their old 1 rep max Cleans. There were multiple people that not only beat their old PR but beat it by 10,15,20+ lbs! A lot of these were people that have been with us for a while, so it wasn’t like your first couple months of CrossFit where everything is a new PR. These were legit weights earned through consistent hard effort. Great work by everybody today.

People ask me who the guy is on the back of our shirts. He is Lu Xiaojun and is probably the most dialed in lifter at this moment. He just broke a world record with this perfect snatch. Technique is everything

Thats 387.2 lbs at a body weight of 170lbs!

10/29/13

Squat Complex: 4 sets of 7 Front Squats/13 Back Squats @65% of 1 rep max Front Squat. Each set is done without re-racking the bar. There is only a slight re-rack when transitioning from the Front Squat to the Back Squat but there should not be any breaks until all 20 reps are completed.

There are a few different groups of athletes within most CrossFit boxes. There are two distinct groups that do CrossFit. The first do so to improve their health and enjoy the benefits of fitness in their lives outside of the gym. And the second have an interest in applying their fitness into the occasional competition. I believe that everyone should first and foremost be motivated to use CrossFit as the first group does. You should work hard in the gym to make life outside the gym easier and more enjoyable. But I do understand and relate with those that are interested in becoming better at CrossFit itself and competing.
As a coach, it is very hard to program a weeks worth of workouts that apply and benefit both groups. What makes this even harder is not having a structured schedule as far as training days and rest days go. Sooo, I’ve been kicking around a few ideas as to how we can be a bit more organized in our training template and achieve better results for both groups. Starting this week, the majority of our workload will be achieved on specific days of the week. If you have any desire to compete, I STRONGLY suggest you follow the following schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday will be your training days. Making Thursdays and Sundays your rest days. I will program work for all of these days including Saturdays that will blend cohesively into specific cycles.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean we’ll be closed on Thursdays or that we are not going to program anything on Thursdays. It simply means that in the grand scheme of things, Thursdays will not directly benefit whatever specific training cycle we might be on.
To gain the most benefit from all of the upcoming work you guys are about to do, I ask that everyone keep in mind the importance of allowing your body to recover. The most important key is sleep (more on this in a later post), nutrition, stress, and mobility (foam rolling, stretching etc.)

10/28/13
10 minutes to establish a 1 rep max Clean

Alternating Tabatas for a total of 8 minutes
1a) Power Cleans @55% of the 1 rep you just established
1b) Air Squats

There are a number of different templates used in our workout programming. The two most discernible are our strength and conditioning templates. Every day there is usually a strength component followed by a conditioning or vice versa. Amongst these two components are some additions.
We also do intervals in a few different formats. Some examples are the Tabatas, the EMOMS, and the Max effort/Rest split cycle. These are put into our training for very specific reasons. If one were to simply do nothing but all out effort workouts like the 3 Rounds for time or AMRAPs every day for months on end, improvement in specific areas such as technique, strength, and most importantly metabolic conditioning would never happen. Think about it in terms of lifting. You wouldn’t try to 1 rep max on your lifts every day. So why would you max out on anaerobic and aerobic efforts every day. This does not give your body a chance to recover, rebuild and get stronger.
Think of Tabatas and Max effort/Rest split cycles as maxing out on your anaerobic efforts. I don’t want to drain your aerobic capacity that day. To relate it to lifting again, this would be working on a heavy day and lifting at around 85-95% of your 1 rep max. These are hard taxing workouts, but are also short so work towards finding and recognizing your 85-95% in terms of effort and energy used.
At the other end of the spectrum are some of the lower rep EMOMs that we do. If you see something that’s low reps with usually one movement or alternating between two specific movements, and it’s every minute on the minute, think of it in terms of lifting again. This is not a max out day but rather a technique day where we are hanging around 60-75% of our 1 rep max. This is not the time for improving anaerobic performance, this is the time to become more efficient and technical with our movements. These are relatively easier from a conditioning standpoint so the focus should be on body awareness and fluidity in our movements.
Over time, these intervals should help teach us when we can go all out on a workout and when we need to dial it back and stay at around 80% to remain more efficient during the entirety of the workout.

10/25/13
3 Sets of the following sequence, heavy but perfect:
1 Full Squat Clean from the ground
3 Hang Squat Cleans
1 Push JerkThe sequence should be done as a whole without setting the bar down. Only count your heavy sets, warming up to a heavy set does not count as part of the 3 sets

Ok, a few more thoughts on last weekend and then we are moving on! I’m kicking around some ideas for some additions to our training template starting next week. I can guarantee that there will probably still be squats and Burpees involved in some way. I know, shocker right?Remembering Fitness is for Outside of the Box
We often get caught up in our routines and forget that variety can help keep things interesting. During the weekend’s events, I was reminded there is a whole other world of exercise out there besides what just happens inside our box. It had been a long time since I had hit a trail run and an even longer time since I had really trained with swimming. Maybe that long absence was a good break because going back into those two activities was surprisingly refreshing. Now don’t get me wrong. You’re not going to see me doing triathlons or marathons any time soon, but I do plan on including some trail runs and some swims into a sort of active rest day from CrossFit. To break things up a bit, use the fitness you’ve gained in your training to take up an old sport or perhaps try a new one.The Jer Bear!
I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate for the weekend. Jeremy carried me on the first workout pulling off a ton of squats. He also came through with some great strategizing on how to pace all of the workouts. I love team workouts because you push each other to keep going and move faster. The two of us definitely pushed each other on that last workout and it paid off for us. You’re a beast Jeremy!

Our Crew
To everyone that came up and dedicated a weekend to all of this, Thank You. I’ve said it before, but I really do love our gym. I can’t think of any other gym in Cruces where it’s members are like family. I’m very proud of who we are and the dynamic group of individuals that form our team. There were times where I neglected warming up for my heat because I didn’t want to stop watching our teams compete. This whole thing started out with me, my sister and Andres going out to Tulsa for our very first competition. Now the competitions are right here in our own backyard and we’re all out there representing CrossFit Las Cruces! That’s just crazy. Thank you guys

Here are three more of my favorites from the weekend.The People
Most of the people I came across during the event could have fit right into our gym like family. In fact many of them have. Two of the judges from Black Box have been to our gym numerous times, along with one of their owners. There were also a bunch of 915 guys that we’ve worked out with. This often times gets overlooked. How many competitions have you been to where the ones you compete against are the same ones you help cheer on and crack jokes with? I love this about CrossFit. No matter where you are, there’s a community there to support you. Even while we were waiting for the final results I found myself at a table of nothing but Black Box athletes. Once we got to talking it was like we were old buddies. And, instead of simply waiting around and doing nothing while the results were being tabulated, there was instead some good ol’ CrossFit fun. A birthday Burpee off and a Handstand contest!

The Butterfly Pirates!
By far the best damn name in the entire competition! Hosein and Nate’s team name stuck out like a sore thumb and made me laugh every time I saw it on the roster. These guys made the Men’s division look good! Thank you guys for having fun with it all!

In case you were wondering, yes those are bandanas and yes those are pirate socks which coincidently, are the same socks that one of the women’s teams had on!Are Women are Yoked!
I’m sure most of you already know this, but our women are STRONG! This was most evident during the sandbag event. Watching our women’s teams push through that event was crazy! People in the crowd kept going “oh wow that girl’s strong”. Damn right she is. Case in point: Tiffany. She was seriously throwing the sandbags around like she was making a pizza pie! Don’t believe me? You don’t need to! There’s a picture to prove it! Good work ladies!